


To Fresh Woods And Pastures New

by TheBlindBandit



Series: Those Stars of Brightest Magnitude [1]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Class Differences, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond Theory, Secret Organizations, handmaiden/feudal lord - Freeform, the Diamonds (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 05:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14888726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlindBandit/pseuds/TheBlindBandit
Summary: The notedenfant terribleof one of Brytain’s most powerful families spots her handmaiden sneaking around in the middle of the night, and, never really one for denying her own impulses or curiosity, sneaks out after her. Becoming involved with an underground resistance movement against her own family and the Church was a result she probably did not expect.





	To Fresh Woods And Pastures New

**Author's Note:**

> While this is a crossover, it is my goal to make most of the worldbuilding available in and understandable from the fic itself. The most important thing to know is that in the world where this takes place, every human has a part of their soul manifesting outside them and accompanying them as a closely bonded animal companion (usually taking meaningful shape reflective of their values and personality). These 'daemons' are corporeal, can talk and interact with the world and even get hurt, and touching another person's daemon is highly taboo.

Even in the height of summer, the night meant the cobblestones were damp and cool and very uncomfortable under bare feet. Rose found herself wishing she’d taken at least a moment more to look for her haphazardly discarded slippers - the ones that somehow always seemed to near-miraculously materialise next to her bed by morning, perfectly aligned and positioned for her to lazily slip her feet right in.

It was just like Oxford to inconvenience her thus, really - and just like Aunts to keep them all cooped up here instead of travelling the wide, wild world, for almost a full year now, all on some supposedly highly important business. Important business of which, of course, Rose heard and saw next to nothing.

She tightened the shawl she mercifully _had_ grabbed around her shoulders, which her white nightgown unhelpfully left bare, and rushed on, increasingly aware of what a sight she must be. Nobody was around at this time of night, at least, but still - God forbid word got back to Aunts, she’d never hear the end of it. Or at least not until they got distracted enough by some other oh-so-unseemly incident Rose happened to take part in.

“It could hardly be worse than the time we went off boating down the canals, could it?” Neshu murmured from where he was padding along, brushing reassuringly against her thigh.

Rose reached down and ran her fingers through his mane in an unthinking habit she’d developed that neither of them minded. “I’m still not looking forward to enduring any of the inevitable dull soirées they decide are fitting penance, I can promise you that. But we can weather anything, as long as they don’t get Grandmother involved.”

Neshu shuddered, but didn’t offer further comment, choosing instead to focus on the still-distant target of their pursuit. When he felt like it, he was every inch as imposing and regal as one might expect a lion daemon to be. Rose in turn felt they complemented each other wonderfully.

Oh, but caught up in running outside, she’d forgotten to account for how she’d manage to sneak back _in_ if this little excursion ended up taking too long and her usual routes became unavailable. She hadn’t thought this through much at all, had she? Had just been focusing on the pale wisp of a familiar apparition sneaking past the door of her rooms in the dead of night.

_Pearl._

When Rose had slipped out of her room, rushed down the hallways and out after her through the servant’s entrance, she hadn’t known quite what to expect, and she’d so far reached very little clarity on the matter. All she knew was that after months and months of observing Pearl in ways that her family would likely consider inappropriate on several levels for one in their service (and thus, understandably, beneath their regard in every way), and noting both her odd charm and her strange disappearances, she finally had a chance of a glimpse into the mystery that was her handmaiden, and she was absolutely taking it.

Up ahead, Pearl stopped in her tracks under one of the older and dimmer anbaric streetlights and seemed to be mulling something over, hands rummaging around in the pockets of her decidedly non-uniform trousers - and where had she even gotten _those_?

Then she leaned over to murmur something to her daemon and started, to Rose’s horror, to look around herself.

Rose ducked into hiding behind the corner of the nearest building as quickly as she could, and tangled her fingers tightly in Neshu’s mane. His breath was just as bated as her own.

But they were too late. Pearl may have appeared distracted and lost in thought, but neither Rose nor her daemon were much given to subtlety. The ever-watchful Aristobulus had spotted them, or some suggestion of them - and stretched his elegant neck to whisper as much to Pearl. Pearl in turn seemed instantly to become even paler than her usual, and took off like the wind, keeping time with the strides of her daemon’s long, thin legs.

Rose sighed, and gave chase.

Neshu ran forward, almost to the uncomfortable stretch of the limits of their bond, but Pearl’s lead was too great, and she all but threw both herself and Aristobulus around a convenient turn in the street.

An odd one, that Aristobulus. From the presumptuous name he insisted on, down to the shape he’d settled in: a large, white-and-black bird with a bright orange face, rarely given to flight, with a showy crown and tail of feathers, a dangerous beak and even more dangerous talons, as keen-eyed and precise as anyone Rose had ever met - and, just like seemingly much else when it came to Pearl, a disappointment to her family in ways they made sure to make known.

( _Where_ , Rose remembered overhearing the despairing cry of the housekeeper, years ago, _where had they even gotten the idea for such a form? What sort of infernal bird_ was _that? Surely nothing of its like strutted on these shores- What’s that, a_ secretary _? You en’t no secretary, now stop wasting time and get back to your cleaning._ )

Eternally failing to be like the demure, pretty sisters, the very images of humble service, with their gentle, dainty, decorative, and above all _appropriate_ songbird daemons.

Well, Rose had found her interesting and appropriate enough to step in and demand she stay. And Rose herself had been and still was young enough to be spoiled and indulged, even as there were increasingly frequent signs of what expectations and duties awaited her. But for now she made the requisite appearances, kept her dresses just barely qualifying under the aforementioned appropriate and her mane of curls as glorious as her daemon’s, kept her amorous flings brief and inconsequential and paramours reasonably predictable, and nobody dared bother her about much at all. Sometimes, increasingly often, she found she may have even wanted them to, for the novelty of the challenge if nothing else. But her family name inevitably got in the way - as it did with quite a few things.

Pearl was still sprinting at full tilt as the street they were running down joined the main riverside way, and Rose almost lost sight of her in the growing darkness. Of course the long line of lamps here just had to be under maintenance, and of course Pearl had to be so damned _quick_ -

Then she slipped.

The noise she made as she hit the ground sounded quite pained, even from a distance - enough to make Rose feel a sting of guilt at her own unthinking exclamation of initial joy at the sight and the opportunity it presented. She just wanted to catch up, not have to fish Pearl out of the water under nothing but the weak moonlight and carry her home, and she certainly hadn’t meant her _harm_ -

“Come on, get up, get up, get up, we can’t let them catch us, you know what they do-”

Rose had gotten just close enough to hear Aristobulus’ quiet urging, and see him take a beakful of Pearl’s shirt, yanking on it in an attempt to get her back on her feet. Pearl managed, scrambling, to do just that, stumbled a bit as she put her weight on her right leg and it almost gave out, but she persevered, and bolted straight for the nearest bridge.

“Wait!” Rose gasped out - to no avail. She was growing tired, her feet hurt and she had no doubt her soles were a mess, and she’d lost her shawl somewhere along the way without even noticing.

Who Pearl thought was after her, Rose had no idea, nor did she understand the fear she’d glimpsed on her face. But she understood enough, was aware enough of the decidedly un-empty boats and ships tied at the nearby quay to know that raising her voice and calling out after her would be unwise.

Pearl dashed across the open and into the narrow streets between the old shops, clearly hoping to lose her pursuers in the gloom among the sharp turns. But she misjudged her advantage - or underestimated the way her fall would impede her own ability to dart around the many corners, and Rose found herself finally, finally catching up.

“Pearl, wait-” she tried again, breathlessly, but once more to no response. Neshu pushed forward and snapped at the long tail feathers before him.

Pearl recoiled and turned immediately, scrambling to put herself between her daemon and their pursuit - which was just enough distraction for Rose to grab at a shirtsleeve and yank Pearl backwards.

“No! You can’t have us, I won’t let you-”

Pearl struggled fiercely at first, and refused to listen at all - Rose learned, to her discomfort, that she could kick quite sharply and with enviable aim - but then seemed to settle for grabbing Aristobulus, pressing them both up against the wall, eyes tightly shut, curling around him, and clinging to him for dear life.

“ _Pearl_ ,” Rose called as loudly as she dared, signalling Neshu to stay back and giving them as much space as she herself thought wise. “Pearl, it’s me. It’s Rose. There’s nobody else.”

Pearl’s eyes blinked open and she stared up owlishly. Rose took a step closer, the better to see and be seen in the near-dark.

“Lady Rose! _You_!?” Pearl was breathless, trembling, and every inch of her screamed of downright terror. It was something Rose had seen her Aunts deliberately instil and regularly harness, something that Grandmother seemed to live and breathe, and something she herself - much more partial to using charm to get ahead - had tried so hard to refrain from. Especially… especially with Pearl.

“Why would- Why were you running after me, I’m- I thought you were _them_ , I thought I was done for…” Pearl’s voice was tremulous but rising, and even turning indignant. “ _Why would you scare me like that?_ ”

But then the bit of anger drained out of her, seemingly replaced with some sort of dreadful realisation, and Rose could see her hands shake where they were clinging to Aristobulus’ feathers. He in turn still seemed on edge, ready to peck and tear at anyone who got too close.

“Oh _no_ ,” Pearl gasped. “Oh no, please, please don’t turn me in, Miss, please, I know what they _do_ -”

“I’m not turning anyone in anywhere, or to anyone. What’s gotten into you?” Rose said with a chuckle, playing up that charm she fancied herself known for. But laughing away her confusion didn’t seem to be welcome at all, and her attempt to lay what she thought would be a comforting hand on Pearl’s shoulder was only met with a flinch.

Still, Pearl frowned and, after a little and visibly troubled while, appeared to accept the answer as sincere. She took several deep breaths, and sat up leaning against the wall. After a moment of deliberation and deciding to chalk up the nightgown as a loss anyway, Rose joined her, Neshu settling in on her other side. The way the moonlight filtered down into the narrow alleyway certainly made for a peculiar atmosphere as they waited, and as Pearl seemed to be both catching her breath and laboriously gearing up to speak again.

“I stole something.” she began quietly, gaze fixed ahead of her on something only she could see.

“Oh, that’s all?” Rose responded breezily, feeling the start of both relief and disappointment. “Was it some of the silverware? If it’s not too late, even if you pawned it already, we can go buy it back. I’ll help you! Say I was just having it polished. No trouble at all, and no one needs to know.”

Pearl blinked up at her. “You- you would really do that?”

“Of course! But next time you’re in a tight spot, just ask me. No need for,” she waved a hand airily, “all _this_.”

Pearl smiled, but it was small and oddly sad. “That’s… very nice of you, Miss. But I stole something far worse, and far more dangerous than silverware.”

“Well, I don’t recall hearing about anything terribly important going missing, so it can’t be all that bad.” She nudged Pearl’s shoulder with her own, and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “What did you steal?”

There was another tense moment of deliberation before Pearl turned to look up at her again, and even in the very dim light, there was something haunted about her eyes. “A secret.”

She seemed deeply unsettled by even thinking about this… whatever it was. Neshu’s ears perked up, and his tail started flicking, and Rose’s mind rushed down half a dozen chilling avenues of thought about everything from rogue agents of the Magisterium to an impending attack by a clan of witches. She was half giddy and half horrified at the prospect of getting to pinpoint which one would end up being the case, and how in the world Pearl of all people had ended up entangled in it.

But then… she’d always seemed both curiously out of place wherever they put her and whatever they put her up to, and far too curious for her own good. If pressed to pick one person out of all their household and extended staff to end up embroiled in something out of the ordinary, Rose would have always placed her bets on Pearl and her long-legged companion, eye-catching in all the ways they weren’t supposed to be.

“We can’t talk about it,” Aristobulus nudged his head under Pearl’s chin, long crest-feathers pressing up against her jaw. “Not out here.”

Pearl’s response was a soft murmur of agreement, and curling around him again. For once, the daemon didn’t seem to mind getting his pristine feathers mussed up or dirtied, as long as it meant more _closeness_ in whatever shape or form. Luckily for him, Pearl was long and gangly enough to comfortably wrap around him and then some, and so they stayed, sharing a moment. Rose looked away and didn’t dare intrude, busying herself with pulling on a thread coming loose from her finely embroidered hem, other hand stroking down well-kempt golden fur, suddenly appreciative of Neshu’s warm and solid presence.

“Miss, with all due respect,” Pearl spoke up again when the moon had shifted enough to cast a bit more light over them, “what are you doing out here? You should be in bed! And look at you, you’re- you must be freezing!”

Rose scoffed. “I’m highly unlikely to freeze in the middle of July. And I’m here because-” she paused, then, realising that she wasn’t exactly clear on the answer herself. “I’m here because of you.”

“Me?”

The adrenalin seemed to be wearing off, and Pearl was starting to take note of her own state. Her right knee was badly scraped and bruised, with a tear on her trousers stained with blood, and her forearms, where her sleeves were rolled up, were streaked with riverside grime. The way her lips twisted in mildly indignant disgust at the sight was oddly endearing.

“Yes. I was… curious. About your little nighttime jaunts. And then I finally caught you embarking on one.”

Pearl grimaced. “You could have asked. I thought- oh, nevermind what I thought.”

Rose arched an eyebrow. “Would you have told me if I had?”

“Well,” Pearl seemed to consider, briefly, toying with another long black-tipped feather as her daemon rested his head against her shoulder, then settled for honesty. “No, I really don’t think I would have. Miss. You’re, ah, forcing my hand here, a bit. So to speak. But I think… I think it might turn out to be exactly what we need.”

_We?_

Rose couldn’t help but be intrigued.

“Just Rose. Please. There’s nobody but us here.”

“Just us,” Pearl reaffirmed, a bit shaky. She ran a nervous hand through her daemon’s feathers, smoothing down his long neck, and nodded to herself after another moment of deliberation.

“I need you to swear to me, R- _Rose_. Swear you won’t tell. What I’m about to show you, and who I’m taking you to meet…”

A meeting? Now _that_ sounded delightful. Rose giggled. “Who would I even tell? You know how seriously they take me-”

“Rose, please!” Pearl cut in, louder and sharper than Rose had ever heard her before. “I’m trusting you with so much more than my life right now. Please, _please_ be serious.”

There was a very noticeable “for once” in there, and Rose felt… chastised. In a way neither of her Aunts had yet managed, for all their attempts. And yet here Pearl was, managing with a heavy yet still wide-eyed look and a mere handful of words.

So it wasn’t to be some sort of half-playful “secret society” meeting she’d briefly envisioned, then. Nor a night of revelry with people rougher than Rose would ever officially be permitted to make acquaintances of, but still sometimes snuck out to meet. No, this was to be something else entirely, and Rose thought of the _secret_ , and found her excitement mounting.

But Pearl had a way of being incredibly serious about things that was apparently contagious, so in the end Rose couldn’t help but settle for solemn. “I swear.”

Pearl’s gaze was fixed on her, intense and sharp and boring into hers, and Rose couldn’t bear to look away. “I swear,” she repeated softly, and found she meant it more than she ever had anything in her life.

Pearl finally broke the contact, and something in the air between them seemed to shift, too. Aristobulus’ feathers stood less on end, and Neshu’s ears twitched back. Pearl’s face was a study in determination, but her blush was so strong it was noticeable even in the dim moonlight.

“Alright,” Pearl whispered, more to herself than anyone else, “alright, we can go. You can come with. And then, perhaps… perhaps you really can help.”

“I’d… be delighted to?” Rose replied, getting to her feet with a bemused smile, and offering Pearl a hand up.

Pearl smiled back, and it felt like a tiny victory. But she didn’t take the hand, and attempted - unsuccessfully - to dust herself off somewhat as soon as she got to her feet, Aristobulus preening right by her side. “I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but you have no idea what you’re agreeing to just yet.”

“Well then,” Rose almost whispered, voice steeped in anticipation, “why don’t you show me?”

Pearl stood looking at her a bit oddly for a moment, unusually inscrutable. Then she offered her arm as if they were about to go for a stroll in the park, and Rose took it.

**Author's Note:**

> Pearl's daemon is a [secretarybird](https://i.imgur.com/Rb2Slb1.jpg), named after Aristobulus of Cassandreia.  
> Rose's daemon is a lion called lion and is a reference to [Inanna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna).
> 
> All titles are from Milton.


End file.
